A new ad for Coca Cola has been shot in Brasov, Romania - I could talk for days about Brasov!
It is in the heart of Transylvania, it is an old, incredibly old place. As a city it has been attested during the medieval times, in 1235 - yes, that would be almost 800 years ago. However, archaeologists discovered traces of human settlements in the area as old as Neolithic age (9,500 BC).
It has been built by German colonists, although today an infinitesimal part of the population is still Germanic (less than 1%) - and you can feel it everywhere!
I have 2 strong links to Brasov: first link is my father, who lives there and has been for about 40 years. I visited him as a child and I fell in love with the city the very first time, and every time. You can breathe the old, the culture, the history. People there are more civilized, the city is in the middle of the mountains, it is a very strong cultural spot.
The 2nd link comes through university. I would have loved to study there (and it would have been nice, as my father was teaching at the Brasov University at the time), but my choice of learning path (Computer Science) wasn't available anywhere but in 3 major cities at the time, and Brasov wasn't one of them (we are talking about the communist period here, pre-1990s). So I went to the capital city... and as luck would have it my room-mates were 2 sisters from Brasov, and another girl from Sibiu (a city very similar in history and geography to Brasov). Not only that, but they had friends from back home, we were all in the same year - and these friends had studied math and physics with my father.
And so, my love for this wonderful, wonderful city grew up and I feel it still part of me :)
You can see the very core of the city in Coca Cola's ad - the plaza is as old as the city, probably; the building behind the red box at 0:23 (and later) is the mayor's former office building. It has been built in 1420!
And this is the ad:
Enjoy!
P.S. You can read more and check some gorgeous pictures about Brasov here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra%C8%99ov.
Very beautiful location! I have a love-hate relationship with Coca-Cola (I think I used to be addicted and know many people who still are)... but the corporation is a master of this kind of publicity. I wonder: are these people actual residents or mostly actors? Hope I don't sound too cynical, Alicia. :) The cinematography here is truly inspired. Brasov looks like an amazing place with millenia of history, that I think it is difficult for North Americans to grasp, where everything here is so "new". I'm checking your Wiki link :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes, I think we developed an addiction too (hubby, I am very good at cutting off things) - and a couple of years back I stopped buying it. If we don't have in the house we can't drink it - problem solved :)
DeleteNo, not cynical, realist :) I firmly believe they are real people, I hope I could feel if they were actors. I'll ask my sister to make sure, she'll know (as she lives there).
Yes, it is a beautiful place, magical at times. It's the culture too - Transylvania, being built / settled by Saxons and Germans is more like them, and even the Romanians that live there are simply different. If there is something I miss dearly (besides family and friends) is my Brasov, my mountains, my Kurtos kolacs... hmmm... that's a good subject!